40V 15 inch Dethatcher/Scarifier, Tool Only

This inexpensive, dethatching machine is amazing. I’m so glad I bought it. It is very lightweight and easy to use; it pulls itself along. The amount of thatch that flows out the back amazing. It left a layer of loose thatch material about 2-3 inches think. I filled TWENTY 42-gallon bags with thatch. My lawn area is about ½ acre, likely a bit less. A few things I learned. -- Cut the grass a little lower than usual. This makes it easier to keep the machine moving through your lawn. -- Dethatch when there is some moisture in the ground—not real wet, not dry. I did it after a good rain. I don’t think the dethatcher could do a good job if the ground was dry and hard. -- It seemed a good idea to heed the manufacturer’s recommendation to use an extension cord of the proper wire gauge depending on length. (The manual says you can burn up the motor if the extension cord is not of sufficient wire gauge for the lengthy. I paid about $40 for 100 foot cord. I didn’t want to use more than one extension cord so the cords would not pull apart. The hook on the handle for looping the cord to keep it from disconnecting works perfectly. (I once used some hedge trimmers that were a constant headache because the plug would pull out repeatedly.) I thought the extension cord would make the job pretty difficult, but it really didn’t. You just learn to work in patterns that keep the cord out of the way. -- The bag is useless because it fills up in just a few minutes. My advice: Remove it. This machine had enough power that it never got bogged down. But in areas where the grass was a bit high, it was harder to keep it moving through the grass. (Otherwise, it was very easy.) It was easy to switch the dethatcher blade and scarifying blade. I scarified to rough up the ground for reseeding. Before I bought the Greenworks dethatcher, I tried dethatching with a hand rake. Even though it was a well-designed dethatching rake, I soon realized that if I did the whole yard it would take a very long time and leave my old back aching probably for years. So I bought the Greenworks dethatcher. The price was very reasonable. I doubt I could have rented a dethatcher for less. No negatives. (There is a battery version of this dethatcher, but it costs about three times as much.)

I bought this last year because, after 29 years, my lawn was in serious need of a geed dethatcher. Normally, I wouldn't even consider a corded or battery electric piece of outdoor power equipment, but since this is something I'll use maybe onve a year, and I have a small yard, I decided to give this a try. Even though my yard is small, there are parts of it that are way too away from an outlet to use a cord. So, I ended up using a portable generator to operate it. But, I already had the generator, and already maintain it, so this wasn't an additional expense. Regardless, it does a really good job of dethatching. I've not tried the scarifier blades, but after using the dethatcher blades, I initially thought I was too aggressive and removed too much, but by early June, my lawn looked better than when it was brand new. It's not the simplest of setups for my application, but it works great and all things considered, id call it a simple and economical solution for a homeowner that uses it once or twice a year.

Full transparency I almost didn't buy this product after reading some of the reviews about motors burning up, etc, etc. Unfortunately, last year's drought was terrible on my lawn it definitely needed help. After thinking it over for awhile I decided to give it a try out and see how it did. Standard disclaimer applies: Individual results may vary. From the top: 1) The product arrived in great shape and assembly was very simple. 2) I didn't bother to do any engineering calculations on current draw vs length of extension cord, etc. 3) I plugged it in to my 20 year old, 100 foot extension cord and it worked just fine. Pros Worked like a champ, de-thatched and scarified my lawn very nicely, completely pleased the job it did. Lightweight and easy to move around and use. I had no trouble with power supply and motor didn't burn up, but I suspect some situational awareness and common sense should be applied. As with gas lawnmowers it will lug down when the clippings accumulate under it. When it happened I would raise the front wheels and pull it backwards to clear the clippings. I used it for 2 hours on my front lawn with no difficulty. It's very simple to change from the dethatch blade to the scarifier blade with the hex key that is supplied it also has a holder that attaches to the handle to keep the hex key close by. Cons The controls seem to work backwards from every lawnmower I've owned since all the safety devices were installed. You have to depress the start button and then pull the "deadman" handle to get it to run unlike my lawnmower. Not a big thing but part of the learning curve. The poor reviews about the bag were correct it will fill up about 1/3 of the way and then needs to be dumped that equates to about 20 feet of dethatching. I removed the bag and raked.....a lot, but it ended up being faster than using the bag. This is why I gave it a overall 4 star rating. Overall I'm happy with my purchase and it did a great job of getting my lawn prepared for another Texas summer.

This device worked great. It came with the scarifier in place, which I used (I did not try the included thatcher adapter). Assembly was not at all challenging, with fairly good illustrations. Height adjustment is simple. I cut the grass low (second lowest setting on my Greenworks 80V mower), then set the scarifier unit to the second lowest setting, and it worked beautifully. My intention was to put slits in the lawn before seeding. Reading reinforced my intuition that soil contact is paramount in fostering seed germination and growth. I believe that to be true, because I'm pretty sure I heard the grass seeds parachuting from my spreader whooping and hollering and high-fiving each other when they hit the scarified ground (LOL). The unit left tidy slits without destroying the lawn. One caveat is that the ground should be dry. On very dry lawn the unit kicked up some dust, but not a lot. On the other hand, I had some areas where drainage is suboptimal and the soil was damp, and the unit had a tendency to "grab" and pull/jerk me and tear up the lawn somewhat. This can be completely avoided by limiting use to dry turf. The unit (again, this is with the scarifier adapter) pulled a lot of thatch out of the lawn, and removing the thatch was ninety percent of the job. The unit itself is very light, tends to pull itself along, and is remarkably easy to use as long as you avoid moist grass, where it misbehaves as described above. I elected to suck up the thatch with my Greenworks mower, which was quite labor intensive, requiring two or three passes (a higher-RPM gasoline mower might be more effective). A leaf rake would undoubtedly be effective, though I'm not sure the lawn would have the neat crisp appearance that mowing provides. Since I ended up mowing the lawn to pick up the thatch, I thought I might skip a step and tried using the scarifier on uncut grass. This worked pretty well, but the end result was that the grass looked a little scruffy compared with the lawn that was pre-cut and later mowed after scarifying. One of the best things about this whole process is that the lawn looked quite good after the process, which I appreciated. A lot of lawns appear torn up for weeks after aerating, and I was happy that I was able to avoid that scenario. My last comment is battery life. I had to charge the battery three times to scarify my lawn (half acre lot, of which about half is lawn), However, I am reluctant to comment here because the 4 Ah battery I have from my other tools is probably going on ten years old, and very likely has reduced output at this point. Overall, this is a definite 5-star purchase for performance and ease of use.

Worked really well. It’s lightweight, so easy to maneuver.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: I have used the 40V mower for a year, and I am convinced that this will also be a reliable tool. Ease of assembly: The instruction is clear enough. There is no need to use any other tools but your hands. Mower quality: The thatcher does a wonderful job in cleaning up my tree lawn strip. Maneuverability: The same with my mower, it is self-propelled. So, just walk behind it, and keep yourself away from any danger. Storage capacity: I keep it in my garage, next to a wall. Battery life: My experience with the mower is that after fully charged, the mower can run for about 45 minutes. Because the thatcher shares the same battery/charger set, I figure the runnning time would be about the same. Value for money: My two tree lawn strips needs to be revived. The grass is not in good condition now. It is timely to get this thatcher before the end of August, in order for me to reseed. The whole purpose if to SAVE money. If I were to hire experts to do this project for me, I figure it will take several thousand dollars. So, for the sake of getting jobs done without spending too much, I chose to DIY.

Very good little machine, lightweight, easy to put together and works really well, although I have only used the dethatcher. I bought it without the battery as I already had 40V batteries from my other greenworks tools. Noise-wise it is not noisy at all and really good value for money. Power is good and collection is very good as well.

The bag is literally trash on arrival. No practical use whatsoever, no capacity for what it’s doing. However, the machine works great. Has more power than I expected. Extremely easy to use, quiet, and is very sturdy. Does a great job, other than leaving some odd lines where it’s like it’s missing tines or something. However, the blades work better than the springs/metal tines.